No images? Click here
April 2023
Dear friend,
Let's begin with some quick trivia: what article was TIME magazine’s most read on International Women’s Day 2023 and reached over 60M people?
Answer: This article on how to end child marriage.
International Women’s Day marks a call to action for accelerating equality for girls and women. In response to the global movement to #EndChildMarriage, global influencers – including Amal Clooney, Michelle Obama, and Melinda French Gates – are using their voices to help to end this practice.
That’s why their organisations are joining forces with us, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, and the Girls First Fund and VOW for Girls. Together, we are working to increase funding, support civil society-led efforts, and amplify the voices of the girls and leaders who are driving real change in their countries and communities.
International Women’s Day also marked the start of the Girls Not Brides 8M campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean. The campaign is working to change the narrative around child, early and forced marriages and unions in the region, where often the perception is that this issue only seen in rural contexts and in indigenous communities. Child, early and forced marriages and unions are the result of many factors including poverty, precariousness, lack of access to rights, and gender inequalities and violences.
You can follow and share the campaign on our social media channels:
Read on to find out what else has been happening across the Partnership this month, including calling for #JusticiaParaBeatriz across Latin America, collective response to proposed legislative changes in Mexico and national planning with multiple stakeholders in Nepal.
As always, we would love to hear from you. If you have a story to share, please let us know.
In solidarity,
Girls Not Brides
Beatriz was a young woman with lupus who lived in poverty in a rural area of El Salvador. At the age of 19, Beatriz had her first pregnancy from which she suffered health complications aggravated her lupus and resulted in anaemia. A year later, in 2013, she had a second pregnancy that was diagnosed as high risk, both for her and for the foetus, and it was determined that the foetus had no chance of living outside of the womb. The medical recommendation was for Beatriz to terminate her pregnancy; however, the State of El Salvador denied a termination, despite the circumstances. Beatriz died a short time later from an accident she could not recover from due to her fragile health condition.
Beatriz was denied timely medical attention and the right to decide for her life.
Criminalisation of the interruption of pregnancy increases inequality, violence, and lack of opportunities for girls and women. The arrival of Beatriz's case to the Inter-American Court opens an opportunity to address the shortcomings of a structural system that does not guarantee girls, adolescents, and women access to the interruption of pregnancy as a health service free of discrimination and violence.
Read the full story here
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
“The girls would love to see a society that respects their voices and gives them equal opportunities just like the male child. I am looking at a future where girls are able to fulfil their potential and are aware of their rights and able to claim their rights.”
Cynthia Simantoi Oning’oi, AMREF, Girls Not Brides Kenya
Advocating for girls’ rights at the sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women
The 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) closed with the official adoption of the Agreed Conclusions on 17 March. The conclusions provide the first ever comprehensive set of recommendations to advance gender equality and ensure girls and women can exercise their rights and agency in the context of innovation, technological change and education in the digital age. These conclusions are a roadmap for action, guiding policymakers, advocates and practitioners in their with and for girls and women around the world.
Read the full blog here
PARTNERSHIP SPOTLIGHT
“Ending child, early and forced marriages and unions is not just about children; it is a matter of human rights.”
Gauri Pradhan, Child Rights Campaign and former Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, Nepal
On March 26, 2023, The Girls Not Brides Nepal National Partnership met with Girls Not Brides members, Civil Society Organisations, Development Partners, and Government Stakeholders in Kathmandu, Nepal. At this National Policy Dialogue, stakeholders came together to share experiences and best practices, discuss critical issues, and plan next steps to end child marriage in Nepal.
CHILD MARRIAGE IN THE NEWS
The absolute prohibition of unions in adolescence is not in the best interests of children (15 March 2023)
Members of Girls Not Brides in Mexico come together to issue a joint statement on draft changes to the Federal Criminal Code, which would risk limiting – or even criminalising – adolescent girls’ rights and choices.
Read the full article
Saudi Arabia: Law enshrines male guardianship (8 March 2023)
Personal Status Law discriminates against women in marriage, divorce, custody (8 March 2023)
Read the full article
LATEST EVIDENCE AND LEARNING ON CHILD MARRIAGE
CRANK research meeting: Transforming gender and social norms to prevent child marriage and advance gender equality
Catch up on the key takeaways, notes, recordings, and presentations from the first meeting of the Child
Marriage Research to Action Network (the CRANK) in 2023. (Available in English, French, and Spanish)
Access the key takeaways
CRANK Research Spotlight: How to ensure efforts to address child marriage reach the most marginalised girls
Read this spotlight for the latest research and evidence on child marriage programming in hard-to-reach contexts – like conflict settings – and focusing on the girls who have been most marginalised.
(Available in English, French, and Spanish)
Access the research spotlight
Supporting joint advocacy on child marriage and girls’ education in French-speaking West Africa
Check out this learning series session to explore the links between girls’ education and child marriage,
with examples from collectives working on youth-led research and activism in Burkina Faso and Niger.
(Available in English, French, and Spanish)
Access the recording
UNICEF child marriage country profiles
Use these statistical profiles in your national-level programming and advocacy, particularly around Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 5.3 on ending child marriage. They offer an overview of child marriage, detail child marriage prevalence across the population, describe the characteristics of unions provide insights into the lives of girls who marry before age 18, and illustrate trends and progress against the
2030 SDG target.
Access the profiles
Child, Early, & Forced Marriages & Unions (CEFMU) and Sexuality Working Group website
A destination for events, publications and other news from this group of organisations working with and for adolescent girls to advance their rights and opportunities.
Visit the website
CHECK THIS OUT
Climate mixtape: IPCC reflections
Climate Curious spoke to five experts, including our very own Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell, CEO of Girls Not Brides, about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on averting the climate disaster.
Listen here
DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES
Learning Series: Safeguarding in child marriage prevention and response
Date end April, TBC
7am Mexico City / 2pm London / 4pm Nairobi / 6:30pm New Delhi
In this learning series session, you will learn more about what safeguarding means, why it is important and why it is relevant to organisations working on child marriage. We will also share best practices and examples of successful safeguarding interventions and tools.
(Simultaneous interpretation in English, French, and Spanish)
Follow Girls Not Brides
Follow Girls Not Brides LAC
